The House of Windsor / Useful Notes - TV Tropes May she defend our laws, And never give us pause To sing with heart and voice: "God save the Queen!" — "God Save the Queen", third verse On 8 February 1960, the Queen confirmed that she and her children would continue to be known as the House and Family of Windsor. Though the Royal House is named Windsor, it was decreed, via a 1960 Order-in-Council, that those male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip who were not Princes or Princesses of the United Kingdom should have the personal surname Mountbatten-Windsor. In practice all of their children, in honour of their father, have used Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname (although Princes William and Harry have "Wales" on their military uniforms, reflecting the long-standing tradition that when a surname is required, as for military service, a royal will use his most prestigious title as if it were a surname). Since becoming Queen, she is Elizabeth II, all other names are not used officially.

There was a minor flap about her being the first Elizabeth to rule over Scotland (thus making her Elizabeth I there, if that rule were to be believed), but the Royal Family decided that when Scotland and England had different numbers of rulers of the same name, they would follow the higher one whether it was Scottish or English. As it happens, that is the rule that had (accidentally) been followed since the Act of Union 1707. A consequence of this is that if there were to be another King James, he would be James VIII (since James II of England was James VII of Scotland). The Windsors were also monarchs of Ireland (till 1949 or 1937, depending on how one interprets the Irish constitution), India (till 1950), and Pakistan (till 1956).

As noted below, the family was originally known as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), the name of the ducal house to which Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, belonged; this family also holds the monarchy of Belgium and is descended from the late medieval Wettin Dukes of Saxony (the ones who, most famously, protected Martin Luther during the Reformation).note The House of Wettin is split into two main branches ever since Ernest, Elector of Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia and Margrave of Meissen, divided up the Wettin territories between himself and his younger brother Albrecht (Albert III) in 1485. Paradoxically, Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert comes from the Ernestine (ducal), not the Albertine (royal) branch. The Ernestine Wettins continued to divide the lands of a ruler amongst his sons longer than most other ruling houses, which meant that Ernestine territory became fragmented into different lines; when a line died out its territory was inherited by or divided up between Ernestine relatives.

This is why the name Saxe-Coburg and Gotha only started with Albert's father Ernest (Ernst). His line had previously been known as Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, but in 1825 the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line died out; in the subsequent re-partitioning Ernest inherited Saxe-Gotha through his consort Louise, but he had to give up Saalfeld to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Consequently Prince Albert and King Leopold I (Ernest's younger brother) are called Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, while Ernest's sister Victoire (Queen Victoria's mother), who married the Duke of Kent in 1818, years before the re-partitioning, is called Victoria, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. George V later changed the name during World War One to appease anti-German sentiment (his Belgian cousins did the same).

The House of Windsor, then, from most recent death to earliest: Born: 21 April 1926 note Her 'Official Birthday' is in June in the UK, May in Canada Parents: King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Reigned: Since 6 February 1952 Consort: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh The current monarch, and her family . Elizabeth is quite popular, to the point that some of the nations of the commonwealth have actually rejected movements towards republicanism, preferring to retain her as their Head of State (even if only a ceremonial one). She is the longest-living British monarch in history, and as of September 9, 2015 the longest-reigning British monarch, beating the record formerly held by Queen Victoria .

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Lived: 4 August 1900 — 30 March 2002 Parents: Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck Consort: George VI Pre-marital name Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, having been born the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.note A title in the Peerage of Scotland , created in 1606 for her ancestor the Lord of Glamis; before that, her ancestors had been Lords and still before that Thanes of Glamis since 1372 . Better known as "The Queen Mum", she lived for over 100 years and died with a bank overdraft of ten million pounds, an impressive feat in these modern times—and an amusing one, since the press and the bank seemed to treat it as a kind of national joke once revealed rather than an indication of trouble. Well known for her dry wit and being a particularly lovable figure. Spitting Image gave her a Birmingham accent—despite being ethnically Scottish —and she was invariably caricatured as being mad keen on horse-racing and gin .

Which isn't actually that far wrong; by a conservative estimate, she had ten drinks a day minimum.note (This is reckoned in British standard drinks, which are half the size and therefore potency of American standard drinks which are also similar in size to the rest of the world's, so by the reckoning of almost everyone else, she had more like 5 units of alcohol per day) Gin and Dubonnet at noon, red wine with lunch a few hours later, a port and martini at six, and two glasses of champagne at dinner, plus a nightcap. Note that these sorts of drinking habits have not historically been uncommon for the British aristocracy, or indeed any aristocracy; it's simply that, unlike others of her era, she managed to live until 2002. Also...

Upon being told by a nervous host, "I've heard you like gin," she said, "Make it a double." Upon being presented with a Nebuchadnezzar—the equivalent of 20 bottles—of champagne, she said, "I suppose I'll just finish it off myself." Then-Prince Albert had to propose to her three times before she said yes; she was afraid of the restrictions of royal life, but eventually decided he was worth it and agreed to marry him. It was her popularity that swung the decision in her husband's favour during the abdication crisis; Albert's younger brother Prince George was under serious consideration but it was ultimately decided that with Elizabeth beside him, Bertie could handle the job. (As noted below, Prince Albert chose "George" as his regal name when he was crowned, and so became King George VI.) She earned longstanding devotion from the Blitz Generation for her and George VI's refusal to flee the country during WWII ; when asked to send her children to Canada for safekeeping, she famously replied, "The girls won't leave without me, I won't leave without the King and the King will never leave ". After Buckingham Palace was bombed during the Blitz, she quipped, "Finally.

Now I can look the East End in the face."note The East End was the most devastated by aerial bombing during the war. She also a cruise liner named after her,note the Cunard ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth, sister ship and running mate to RMS Queen Mary (which, incidentally, was named after her mother-in-law) as well as a famous expressway in Canada (which you take to get to Niagara Fallsnote And Buffalo .). After her death it was discovered that she owned an impressive library of ska music. She has been played by Sylvia Syms in The Queen (2006), Juliet Aubrey in Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) and Helena Bonham-Carter note Fun fact: the Queen Mum may have met Bonham Carter's great-grandfather Herbert Henry Asquith , as she was after all the daughter of an earl while he was PM, and by the time "Squiffy" was elevated to the Peerage, the King doing the elevating was her father-in-law. in The King's Speech .

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Lived: 21 August 1930 — 9 February 2002 Parents: King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Consort: Antony Armstrong Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon The Queen's little sister and in many ways her complete opposite . In 1953 she wanted to marry her father's equerry, Group Captain Peter Townsend ( not that one , although frankly he would have been right up her alley; keep reading to see why). The only problem was that he was divorced, and at this time such a marriage would have been a Very Big Deal Indeed. She eventually decided against marrying Townsend and, years later, married a society photographer named Antony Armstrong-Jones (who was made the Earl of Snowdon on his marriage to her); ironically, they themselves divorced in 1978 after years of bitter acrimony and mutual recriminations.

Famously a good-time girl in her younger days—one of her closest friends was Peter Sellers - the rumour of her having an affair with Mick Jagger is 'unconfirmed'.note If true, it would appear that Jagger has a thing for high-placed women named Margaret: he also had an 'unconfirmed' affair with Margaret Trudeau, wife of then- Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau , although we should say that Mrs Trudeau was a bit more age-appropriate for him. Margaret died shortly before her mother in 2002. She once said that her greatest regret in life was not having been allowed to attend school; it has been remarked that her great tragedy was to be born with frightening intelligence and no outlet for it whatsoever. No wonder she drank. Diana, Princess of Wales Lived: 1 July 1961 — 31 August 1997 Parents: John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd Consort: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Pre-marital name Lady Diana Spencer.

You've almost certainly heard of her, often as the technically incorrect 'Princess Diana'.note inspiring numerous cartoons in which she and Wonder Woman received each other's outfits back from the cleaners, &c. She was a member of the ancient and venerable Spencer family (making her a distant relative of Sir Winston Churchill )note For our Assassin's Creed fans: she's also a distant relative of Caterina Sforza, and a member of the Sloane Rangers , a 1980s group of young Tory upper-crust and professionals. She married Charles in 1981 and bore him two children, cheated on him with half the army list and the England rugby captain, divorced him, and then hooked up with Dodi al Fayed. Beloved by the public both in life and in death, but more recent looks into The British Royal Family have some people believing that she was never really suited for life as royaltynote the Royal Family favors a subdued life devoted to duty no matter their personal opinions. Diana had her own causes she wished to promote, but was also famously jet-set and openly despised having to participate in events and rituals that didn't interest her.

Diana was killed in a car crash in 1997; since then numerous conspiracy theories have arisen. The details of her death and the latest conspiracy theories are regularly featured in the Daily Express up to this day. She was technically no longer an HRH or a member of the royal family when she died, having given up the styling and position when she divorced Prince Charles. But she remained Princess Diana in the minds of the public, which led to a furore because people didn't realize that Queen Elizabeth wasn't making any statements because Diana was essentially a private citizen and that the Spencers should have been handling the arrangements. George VI of the United Kingdom Lived: 14 December 1895 — 6 February 1952 Parents: King George V and Princess Mary of Teck Reigned: 11 December 1936 — 6 February 1952 Consort: Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Father of the current queen, husband of the late Queen Mum. Last King of Ireland and last Emperor of India. A well meaning but painfully shy and socially awkward man (rather like his grandson Charles) who led Britain through World War II.

Had the misfortune to suffer a dreadful stammer which required considerable therapy, and coaching during public addresses, by Australian speech expert Lionel Logue. Only came to the throne due to the abdication of Edward VIII (which would partly explain the shyness, as he was never groomed and trained for kingship; he had expected to have a career as a military officer—in his case, in the Navy—as was the tradition for second sons). Until then he had been known as Prince Albert, Duke of York, and remained "Bertie" to the family. One of England's most beloved monarchs due to his steadfast leadership during the War, including his famous refusal to leave the country during the Blitz. Colin Firth plays him in the 2010 film The King's Speech , about him and his speech therapist. James Wilby played him in the 2002 feature Bertie and Elizabeth , which was part of the celebration of Her Majesty's 50th year as Queen. Samuel West played him in the movie Hyde Park on Hudson. Jared Harris played him in the The Crown 2016 .

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom Lived: 23 June 1894 — 28 May 1972 Parents: King George V and Princess Mary of Teck Reigned: 20 January 1936 — 11 December 1936 Consort: Wallis Simpson Elder brother of George VI and uncle of Elizabeth II. Much more forceful than his brother, caused a constitutional crisis by his desire to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Abdicated after less than a year on the throne and became Duke of Windsor. Pathologically hated by quite a number of people, largely due to his being, by all accounts, both selfish and an absolute jerk. Often accused of latent (or less than latent) fascist sympathies ◊ . Despite his regnal name, the family consistently called him David. He is played by Guy Pearce in The King's Speech . It was this anomaly in the succession that inspired the 1930s setting for Ian McKellen's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III. Other elements of the story appear in the film; Richard's regime is unmistakably fascist, while Edward IV's wife is given an American accent.

George V of the United Kingdom Lived: 3 June 1865 — 20 January 1936 Parents: King Edward VII and Princess Alexandra of Denmark Reigned: 6 May 1910 — 20 January 1936 Consort: Princess Mary of Teck Father of Edward and George, grandfather of Elizabeth II. Solid, reliable, conservative monarch, by no means intellectually brilliant but a steady capable hand (rather like Elizabeth II in fact). Also a keen philatelist. Last British monarch with facial hair . He led Britain through World War One . Infamously denied his cousin (Nicholas II of Russia) asylum. Tragic personal life includes the premature death of a brother (Prince Albert Victor), and his youngest son (Prince John). Technically the first Windsor - he changed the family name from the bulky "Wettin von Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" during the war to appease anti-German sentiment (particularly after the name "Gotha" became infamous due to German bombers of the same attacking London ), despite ironically being as German as his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II. When H.G.

Wells referred to Britain's "alien and uninspiring court" before the name shift, George is said to have responded " I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm an alien! "note Supposedly, the Kaiser retaliated to this by commissioning a performance of The Merry Wives of Wettin von Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Masterminded the royal family's media image. Famous for having last words that may or may not be a Beam Me Up, Scotty! : during his terminal illness, one of his advisors is supposed to have said that he would soon be well enough to visit Bognor Regis. George's response? " Bugger Bognor ." He looked freaking identical to his cousin Nicholas II ◊ , but historians are rather disagreeing on the matter.note During the celebrations of George's wedding to Mary, at which Nicholas was in attendance, guests are reported to have congratulated Nicholas on his marriage and asked George how he was enjoying his stay in England. Was originally a Spare to the Throne , his elder brother Albert Victor died of influenza shortly before his wedding to...

Queen Mary Lived: 26 May 1867 — 24 March 1953 Parents: Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge Consort: George V Her full name being hugely bulky even by royal standards,note Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes her family was technically a junior branch of the royal family of Württemberg in southwestern Germany, but she was born and raised in Britain—which is why Victoria thought her a suitable wife for her grandson, as she was thoroughly English but also of royal blood. She was originally intended to marry Albert Victor, but when he died and she and George hit it off, the Royal Family decided Why Waste a Wedding? Thus she ended up the Queen Mum to the Queen Mum. She was a kleptomaniac and a fanatic jewel collector.

Was described by one politician as "magnificent, [...] worldly, in fact nearly sublime, but cold and hard", making it appropriate that she had an ocean liner named after her.note RMS Queen Mary, a Cunard liner and, as noted above, running mate to RMS Queen Elizabeth, named after then-Queen Consort Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Queen Alexandra Lived: 1 December 1844 — 20 November 1925 Parents: King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel Consort: Edward VII Wife of Edward VII, she was a Danish princess before she married into the British royal family. Despite being related to German royalty, she was not a fan of Kaiser Wilhelm and firmly supported the British in World War I —indeed, relations between Prussia and Denmark often led to tension within the family, particularly as Kaiser Wilhelm was her nephew (his father Frederick III was married to Edward's elder sister Victoria) and Alexandra did not forget that Denmark had lost Schleswig-Holstein in the German-Danish War of 1864.

Other than that, she was most notable for her charitable work, for her status as a fashion icon, for her deafness, and for being the great-grandmother of the current queen. Physically she was in great shape and it is said that the lissome queen once almost split her sides laughing when she saw her portly husband and his fat mistress Alice Keppel taking a walk in the garden through the window. Oh, and for Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, formed in 1902, which served with distinction in both World Wars and was eventually folded into the British military itself. If you've ever seen a Victorian play where a female character affects a fake limp, you can thank Alexandra for that. A post-partum bout with rheumatic fever left her lame in one leg; within days the "Alexandra Limp" had become fashionable. Edward VII of the United Kingdom Lived: 9 November 1841 — 6 May 1910 Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria Reigned: 22 January 1901 — 6 May 1910 Consort: Princess Alexandra of Denmark Great grandfather of Elizabeth II.

Lent his name to The Edwardian Era . Prior to his coronation, known as Albert Edward, and called "Bertie" by the family even after he became King. In his fifty-nine years as Prince of Wales, he earned a reputation as a cigar smoking (he apparently once lit up from a church candle during a service), womanising, gambling, food-loving and generally lively playboy, and was widely expected to be utterly incapable of reigning properly , but surprised everyone by being a pretty good king. A famous Francophile—he had loved France, the French, and French culture ever since coming with his mother and father on their only state visit abroad (to Paris in 1855), and regularly holidayed at the resort of Biarritz in the French Basque Countrynote This caused a minor scandal, as when Henry Campbell Bannerman died in 1908, the King was in Biarritz and had Herbert Henry Asquith come to France to kiss hands rather than go up to London himself—paved the way for the British alliance with France (and ultimately Russia).

As Prince of Wales, he also started the traditions of the British monarch and royals making public "make-a-speech-cut-the-ribbon-and-kiss-the-babies"-type public appearances and going on numerous state visits to strengthen Britain's ties with foreign states;note The former led to the latter; after laying the cornerstone for the Canadian Parliament at Ottawa during his visit in 1860, he went down to the United States, visiting Washington, D.C. —hopping over to Virginia to pay his respects to George Washington — Philadelphia , and New York City . in other words, it's fair to say he invented the modern role of the British monarch and royal family (since those two things occupy more of a modern royal's public exposure than anything else). As noted, Edward was long noted for his love of a good time. He had a number of mistresses, many of them high profile (including the actress Lilly Langtry;note Who is alleged— probably wrongly —to have had this exchange with him: "Why should I spend any more money on you?

I've spent enough on you to build a battleship." "And you've spent enough in me to float it." She also had dalliances with other high-placed figures—among them the maternal grandfather of Elizabeth II's consort Prince Philip. Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick;note Who got the nickname "Babbling" Brooke because (1) her husband, as heir to the Earldom of Warwick, was Lord Brooke, and (2) she couldn't keep her mouth shut. This last proved to be her undoing as a royal mistress. She was also the inspiration for the ditty "Daisy, Daisy." and the society hostess Alice Keppelnote Great-grandmother of another mistress of a Prince of Wales, Camilla Parker-Bowles. Of course, Prince Charles was eventually allowed to marry her.) and a number of scandals (some involving his mistresses and some not) as Prince of Wales.

He has the dubious distinction of having had to appear as a witness in not one but two high-profile and very scandalous trials, the first being the divorce trial of an MP (where the issue was the MP's wife's cheating on him with the Prince while her husband was at sittings of Parliament) and the second case involved gambling (and had the added indignity of his being forced to testify, rather than willingly taking the stand as he had the previous time). He was, outside of his mistresses, a truly notorious womanizer; he had liaisons with numerous society women (including Winston Churchill 's mother Lady Randolph Churchill and actress Sarah Bernhardt), and also had special rooms in some of the top brothels of Paris, including one with a specially-designed siège d'amour ("love chair") so even with his great weight he could take two prostitutes at once. In the end, though, all of that was, if not forgotten, then easily forgiven—more of a national joke than an embarrassment, especially given how the rest of the late Victorian upper classes carried on. It helped that his wife didn't really mind; for all the cheating, he appears that he was actually a pretty caring and decent husband otherwise (by her lights, anyway).

He was also a great lover of food—especially French food—and ended up with a 50-plus-inch waist ; again, fate spared him, and of the whole long line of fat British monarchs (i.e. every single one from George I until him), he carried it best. He was also (thus far) the last fat British monarch; his marriage to the slender Alexandra of Denmark seems to have had the lasting effect of ensuring reasonably svelte monarchs for the next five generations. Also, peculiarly for someone so thoroughly in love with fine French cuisine, he was the one who cemented the English tradition of eating roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and potatoes for the Sunday roast . In the end, of his numerous vices, it was his smoking (twelve cigars daily, plus twenty cigarettes) that caught up to him, and he died of heart disease after nine years on the throne in 1910. His funeral was noted by Barbara Tuchman in The Guns of August to be the greatest assemblage of royalty in history. He was the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, until Charles beat Edward's record on 20 April 2011.

Probably the only Windsor to actually enjoy being a monarch; the others seem to regard it largely as a duty. He was also known to be a surprisingly liberal man for his time (though, considering his personal life, this is perhaps less surprising than it might be), famously taking a severe dislike to the way Indians were treated in the British Raj, saying that to the Foreign Minister of the time, Lord Granville, "because a man has a black face and a different religion than our own, there is no reason why he should be treated as a brute." At the same time, he happily included Catholics, Jews and the nouveau riche in his circle of friends, at a time when all three groups were very much persona non grata and was genuinely concerned by the plight of the poor (though, it should be noted, this was more a case of feeling feudal obligation than desiring reform).

He tended to also be privately vaguely sympathetic to the Liberal Party; he counted William Gladstone as a personal friend and mentor (to the annoyance of his mother, who greatly preferred Disraeli and rather detested Gladstone on a personal level) and generally had better relationships with his Liberal PMs (Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith) than with his Tory ones (Lord Salisbury and Balfour). Depictions in fiction The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain – B&N Readouts Shop Now Before I went there for the first time, about all I knew about Bognor Regis, beyond how to spell it, was that some British monarch, at some uncertain point in the past, in a moment of deathbed acerbity, called out the words “Bugger Bognor” just before expiring, though which monarch it was and why his parting wish on earth was to see a medium-sized English coastal resort sodomized are questions I could not answer.

The monarch, I have since learned, was King George V, and the story is that in 1929 he traveled to Bognor on the advice of his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn, who proposed that a spell of fresh sea air might help him recover from a serious lung complaint. That Dawson could think of no better treatment than a change of scene is perhaps a reflection of his most outstanding characteristic as a doctor: incompetence. Dawson was in fact so celebrated for medical ineptitude that a ditty was composed in his honor. It went: Lord Dawson of Penn Has killed lots of men. So that’s why we sing God save the King. The king chose Bognor not because he held any special affection for it, but because a rich chum of his named Sir Arthur du Cros had a mansion there called Craigweil House, which he offered to the king for his private use. Craigweil was by all accounts an ugly and uncomfortable retreat, and the king liked nothing about it, but the sea air did do him good and after a few months he was well enough to return to London. If he left with any fond memories of Bognor, he didn’t relate them.

Six years later, when the king relapsed and now lay dying, Dawson blandly assured him that soon he would be well enough to return to Bognor for another holiday. “Bugger Bognor,” the king reportedly said and thereupon died. The story is nearly always dismissed as fiction, but one of George V’s biographers, Kenneth Rose, maintains that it could be true and that it certainly would not have been out of character. Because of the king’s short residency, Bognor petitioned to have the word “Regis” added to its title, and in 1929 this was granted, so that interestingly its supreme elevation and onset of terminal decline date from almost precisely the same moment. Read the full article in the FREE NOOK Reading App. Share Bugger Bognor: George V | Mad Mike Magee's Musings Mad Mike Magee's Musings Posted on September 20, 2009 | 2 Comments WHILE I’M in San Francisco I am staying part of the time at the strangely titled George V Hotel in Mason.

George V was a freemason, AFAIK a 33° mason, but I can’t spot any sign of the floor being made of black and white tiles and the only aprons I can spot seem to be worn by the maids. But he’s not listed on this page , unlike his daddy Edward VI, and his son Edward VIII, so maybe that’s apocryphal – like Bugger Bognor. This George, according to Whackypedia anyway, was famous for shooting things including tigers and well, just about anything that moved. He also collected stamps – big time. He’s also famous for his apocryphal last words – apparently when he was ill and was told he would be soon well enough to visit Bognor Regis again, he said “Bugger Bognor”. The hotel named after him in San Francisco is called King George and was opened in 1914. Why, we don’t know, except that he was the reigning British monarch at that time. Another famous George, of course was George III – who seemed to let the United States slip through his fingers.

George II defeated the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden and is not fondly remembered north of the border, by many. What a load of Georges! And what a sprinkling of Edwards! The Hanoverian dynasty in the time of George V and during the First World War changed its Germanic name to Windsor. According to Britannica, King George V was distinguished by no exercise of social gifts, by no personal magnetism, by no intellectual powers. He lacked intellectual curiosity and only later in life acquired some measure of artistic tastes. “He was, in other words, exactly like most of his subjects.” Here’s a view from my room in the King George hotel. Not much to see here either.

♣ Share this: King George V - Biography - IMDb King George V Biography Showing all 35 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (21) | Personal Quotes (6) Overview (4) George Frederick Ernest Albert Wettin Height 5' 6" (1.68 m) Mini Bio (1) King George V was born on June 3, 1865 in London, England as George Frederick Ernest Albert Wettin. He was married to Queen Mary . He died on January 20, 1936 in Sandringham, Norfolk, England. Spouse (1) ( 6 July 1893 - 20 January 1936) (his death) (6 children) Trade Mark (2) Trivia (21) King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Emperor of India, from 1910 to 1936. Grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II , Princess Margaret , Edward Windsor , and Duke of Gloucester . George nicknamed Elizabeth "Lillibet"; she affectionately called him "Grandpa England".

Queen Mary had been engaged to George's older brother, but he died before they could wed. So a marriage was arranged between Mary and George. Yet they fell deeply in love, and, in stark contrast to his father, George never took a mistress. In 1924 George V fell ill with bronchitis and influenza, and took a cruise on his yacht to recover. In 1928 he fell seriously ill with septicemia and a blood infection, and his son the Prince of Wales ruled for the next two years as regent in all but name. The King's recovery was slow, particularly since he was allowed to resume smoking just four days after he was brought to hospital by ambulance. Even after he resumed public duties in 1930, he was never to be the same again. In the years leading up to his death he suffered from many ailments including pleurisy, chronic obstructive lung disease, bronchitis and emphysema. Grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert . In 1917, in the most questionable intervention of his reign, he personally forced David Lloyd George to withdraw his offer of asylum to Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

In the last year of his life Geoge V was frequently compared in appearance with Franz Josef . It was a melancholy comparison - the Austro-Hungarian Emperor was 86 when he died, the King not more than 70. He was strongly anti-war and following Benito Mussolini 's invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 declared that he would rather abdicate than lead Britain through another world war. Although as Prince of Wales he had struggled to conceal his contempt for socialism and the Liberal party, as King George V he kept his views hidden in accordance with his position as a constitutional monarch. His closest relationship with a politician was with his Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald . The King was instrumental in persuading MacDonald to lead a coalition government during the financial crisis of 1931. To show his loyalty to the British people, George created the House of Windsor out of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by royal proclamation in 1917, and ordered his family members to relinquish all claims to their German titles. His coronation as Emperor of India in December 1911 was the last time the Delhi Durbar was held.

Had 6 children: Edward (1894-1972), Albert (1895-1952), Mary (1897-1965), Henry (1900-1974), George (1902-1942), and John (1905-1919). In 1924 he became the first British Royal to have his voice recorded when he opened the British Empire Exhibition. Was the first Crown Prince of England to be allowed to serve in the Royal Navy. His father, King Edward VII, was barred from serving on account of being the Crown Prince. His great-uncle, King William IV, served in the Navy only because he was not actually the original Crown Prince, but became the Heir Apparent upon the death of his brother; George's grandfather; King George IV. Ever since his service, Crown Princes have been expected to serve in the military, and have done so: King Edward VIII, King George VI, and Prince Charles have all served in the Royal Navy. Prince William broke tradition slightly, by serving in the Royal Air Force instead. Was the first sitting British Monarch to visit the United States.

San Francisco | Mad Mike Magee's Musings | Page 2 Mad Mike Magee's Musings Posted on September 21, 2009 | 1 comment I’D never seen a Punjabi car, but I did today – just in the parking area of the Marriott San Francisco*, that testament to the wickedness of window cleaners. The word Punjab – the state in India – comes from two words meaning five rivers – panch or pancha (Skt) being the number five and giving rise to our own word for a bunch of fives – punch. Shouldn’t the owner of this vehicle do something about the wheel nuts that have gone missing on this super duper car? ♦ * I hear my reader ask why the Marriott San Francisco is a testament to the wickedness of window cleaners. Well, because it has a super viewing area on the top floor but the windows don’t seem to get cleaned that often. They’re grubby. I guess I wouldn’t want the job of climbing to the top with my chamois leather, but the Marriott Group should maybe have thought of that before they built the glass tower.

Posted on September 20, 2009 | 2 comments WHILE I’M in San Francisco I am staying part of the time at the strangely titled George V Hotel in Mason. George V was a freemason, AFAIK a 33° mason, but I can’t spot any sign of the floor being made of black and white tiles and the only aprons I can spot seem to be worn by the maids. But he’s not listed on this page , unlike his daddy Edward VI, and his son Edward VIII, so maybe that’s apocryphal – like Bugger Bognor. This George, according to Whackypedia anyway, was famous for shooting things including tigers and well, just about anything that moved. He also collected stamps – big time. He’s also famous for his apocryphal last words – apparently when he was ill and was told he would be soon well enough to visit Bognor Regis again, he said “Bugger Bognor”. The hotel named after him in San Francisco is called King George and was opened in 1914. Why, we don’t know, except that he was the reigning British monarch at that time.

Another famous George, of course was George III – who seemed to let the United States slip through his fingers. George II defeated the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden and is not fondly remembered north of the border, by many. What a load of Georges! And what a sprinkling of Edwards! The Hanoverian dynasty in the time of George V and during the First World War changed its Germanic name to Windsor. According to Britannica, King George V was distinguished by no exercise of social gifts, by no personal magnetism, by no intellectual powers. He lacked intellectual curiosity and only later in life acquired some measure of artistic tastes. “He was, in other words, exactly like most of his subjects.” Here’s a view from my room in the King George hotel. Not much to see here either.

♣ George V | Royal Family Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia 29 January 1936 St George's Chapel, Windsor George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As well as being King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1927, split into King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and King of Ireland) and the Commonwealth Realms, George was also the Emperor of India. George reigned from 6 May 1910 through World War I (1914-1918) until his death in 1936. King George V is remembered for his role in World War I, during which he relinquished all German titles and styles on behalf of his relatives who were British subjects; and changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.

Another significant event in his reign was the passing of the Statute of Westminster which separated the crown so that George ruled the dominions as separate kingdoms. Contents Edit George was born on 3 June 1865, at Marlborough House, London. His father was The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His mother was The Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. As a grandson of Queen Victoria in the male line, George was styled His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales at birth. He was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 and his godparents were the King of Hanover, the Queen and Crown Prince of Denmark, the Prince of Leiningen, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Alice and the Duke of Cambridge. [1] As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was no expectation that George would become King as his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, was second in line to the throne after their father.

Education Edit Given that George was born only fifteen months after his brother Prince Albert Victor, it was decided to educate both royal princes together. The Prince of Wales appointed John Neale Dalton as their tutor, although neither excelled intellectually. In September 1877 both brothers joined the training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. [2] For three years from 1879 the royal brothers served as midshipmen on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the British Empire, visiting Norfolk, Virginia, the colonies in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, as well as the Mediterranean, South America, the Far East and Egypt. Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. [3] Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton records a sighting of the Flying Dutchman (see entry for full account of sighting). When they returned to the UK, the brothers were parted with Albert Victor attending Trinity College, Cambridge and George continuing in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world and visited many areas of the British Empire, serving actively in the navy until his last command in 1891. From then on his naval rank was largely honorary.

[4] Marriage Edit As a young man destined to serve in the Navy, Prince George served for many years under the command of his uncle, Prince Alfred, who was stationed in Malta. There, he grew close to and fell in love with his uncle's daughter, his first cousin, Marie of Edinburgh. His grandmother, his father and his uncle all approved the match, but the mothers, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh both opposed it. When George proposed, Marie refused, guided by her mother. She later became Queen of Romania. [5] In 1891, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence became engaged to his second cousin once removed, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (always called "May"), the only daughter of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge. However, Albert Victor died of pneumonia six weeks later, leaving George second in line to the throne and likely to succeed after his father. [6] This effectively ended George's naval career. Queen Victoria still favoured Princess May as a suitable candidate to marry a future king, so she persuaded George to propose to May. George duly proposed, and May accepted.

This arranged marriage was a success, and unlike his father, George reportedly did not take a mistress. [6] Throughout their lives the couple exchanged notes of endearment and loving letters. The marriage of George and May took place on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace in London. It was claimed that at the wedding, the crowd were confused as to who was the Duke of York (later George V) and who was the Tsarevitch (later Nicholas II) of Russia, because their beards and dress made them look alike superficially. [7] However, their remaining facial features were quite different. [8] Duke of York Edit In 1892, Queen Victoria created George, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. After George's marriage to Mary, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York. The Duke and Duchess of York lived mainly at York Cottage [9] , Sandringham, Norfolk a relatively small house where their way of life mirrored that of a comfortable middle-class family rather than grand royalty. George preferred the simple, almost quiet, life in marked contrast to his parents.

Even his official biographer dispaired of George's time as Duke of York, writing: "He may be all right as a young midshipman and a wise old king, but when he was Duke of York...he did nothing at all but shoot animals and stick in stamps." [10] It has been claimed that George was a very strict father, to the extent that his children were terrified of him, and he is said to have remarked, "My father was frightened of his mother, I was frightened of my father, and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me." In reality there is no direct source for the quote and it is likely that his parenting style was little different to that adopted by most people at the time. [11] As Duke and Duchess of York, George and May carried out a wide variety of public duties. In 1901, they toured the British Empire, visiting Australia, where the Duke opened the first session of the Australian Parliament upon the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Their tour also included South Africa, Canada, and New Zealand, where (as they were now the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York) Cornwall Park in Auckland was named in their honour by its donor, John Logan Campbell, then Mayor of Auckland. Prince of Wales Edit On 22 January, 1901, Queen Victoria died, and George's father, Albert Edward, ascended the throne as King Edward VII. At that point George inherited the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. For the rest of that year, George was styled His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall and York, until 9 November 1901 when he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. King Edward VII wished his son to have more preparation and experience prior to his future role. In contrast with Queen Victoria, who excluded Edward from state affairs, George was given wide access to state documents and papers. He often read over the papers with his wife, whose intellect was considerably broader than his. May often helped write her husband's speeches.

King Edit In 1911, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar on December 12, where they were presented to an assembled audience of Indian dignitaries and princes, as the Emperor and Empress of India. George wore the newly-created Imperial Crown of India at the ceremony. Later, the Emperor and Empress travelled throughout India, visiting their new subjects. George took the opportunity to indulge in hunting tigers, shooting 36. [12] Also during one season in Sandringham he shot 1,209 pheasants. World War I Edit As King and Queen, George and Mary saw Britain through World War I, a difficult time for the Royal Family, as they had many German relatives. Although a female-line great granddaughter of King George III, Queen Mary was the daughter of the Duke of Teck, a morganatic section of the Royal House of Württemberg. King George's paternal grandfather was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; the King and his children bore the titles Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke and Duchess of Saxony.

The German Emperor Wilhelm II, who for the British public came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, was the king's first cousin, "Willy." The King had brothers-in-law and cousins who were British subjects but who bore German titles such as Duke and Duchess of Teck, Prince and Princess of Battenberg, Prince and Princess of Hesse and by Rhine, and Prince and Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Augustenberg. Writer H G Wells wrote about Britain's "alien and uninspiring court", and George famously replied: "I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien." [13] ) On 7 July 1917, George V issued an Order in Council that changed the name of the British Royal House from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor, to appease British nationalist feelings. He specifically adopted Windsor as the surname for all descendants of Queen Victoria then living in the United Kingdom, excluding females who married into other families and their descendants.

[14] Finally, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects he relinquished the use of all German titles and styles, and adopted British-sounding surnames. George compensated several of his male relatives by creating them British peers. Thus, overnight his cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while his brother-in-law, the Duke of Teck, became Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge. Others, such as Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein , simply stopped using their territorial designations. In Letters Patent gazetted on 11 December 1917, the King restricted the style "His (or Her) Royal Highness" and the titular dignity of "Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland" to the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest living son of the eldest living son of a Prince of Wales.

[15] The Letters Patent also stated that "the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked." Relatives of the British Royal Family who fought on the German side, such as Prince Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (the senior male-line great grandson of George III) and Prince Carl Eduard, Duke of Albany and the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (a male line grandson of Queen Victoria), were simply cut off; their British peerages were suspended by a 1919 Order in Council under the provisions of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. George also removed their garter flags from St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle under pressure from his mother, Queen Alexandra.

When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia , a first cousin of George through his mother, Queen Alexandra (Nicholas II's mother was Queen Alexandra's sister) was overthrown in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the British Government offered asylum to the Tsar and his family but worsening conditions for the British people, and fears that revolution might come to the British Isles, led George to think that the presence of the Romanovs might seem inappropriate under the circumstances. [16] Despite the later claims of Lord Mountbatten of Burma that Lloyd George, the great Liberal, was opposed to the rescue of the Romanovs, records of the King's private secretary, Lord Stamfordham , suggest that George V opposed the rescue against the advice of Lloyd George. Advanced planning for a rescue was undertaken by MI1, a branch of the British secret service, [17] but possibly because of a strengthening of the Bolshevik guard, the plan was never put into operation. The Tsar and his immediate family thus remained in Russia and were murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yekaterinburg in 1918. Later life Edit During and after World War I, many of the monarchies which had ruled most European countries fell.

In addition to Russia, the monarchies of Austria, Germany, Greece, and Spain also fell to revolution and war, although the Greek monarchy was restored again shortly before George's death. Most of these countries were ruled by relatives of George. In 1922, a Royal Navy ship was sent to Greece to rescue his cousins, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg and their children, including Prince Philip , who would later marry George's granddaughter, Elizabeth II . George also took an interest in the political turmoil in Ireland, expressing his horror at government-sanctioned killings and reprisals to Prime Minister Lloyd George. [18] During the General Strike of 1926 the King took exception to suggestions that the strikers were 'revolutionaries' saying, "Try living on their wages before you judge them." [19] He also advised the Government against taking inflammatory action. [20] In 1932 George agreed to deliver a Royal Christmas speech on the radio, an event which was to become an annual event. He wasn't in favour of the innovation originally but was persuaded by the argument that it was what his people wanted.

[21] By the silver jubilee of his reign in 1935, he had become a well-loved king, saying in response to the crowd's adulation, "I cannot understand it, after all I am only a very ordinary sort of fellow." [22] But George's relationship with his heir, Prince Edward deteriorated in these later years. George was disappointed in Edward's failure to settle down in life and disgusted by his many affairs with married women. He was reluctant to see Edward inherit the crown. In contrast, he was fond of his second eldest son, Prince Albert (later George VI) and doted on his eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth ; he nicknamed her "Lilibet", and she affectionately called him "Grandpa England". George was quoted as saying about his son Edward: "After I am dead the boy will ruin himself in 12 months," and later about Albert and Lilibet: "I pray to God that my eldest son Edward will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." [23] Death Edit World War I took its toll on George's health, which began to deteriorate.

He had always had a weak chest, a weakness exacerbated by heavy smoking. A bout of illness saw him retire to the sea, by Bognor Regis in West Sussex. [24] A myth later grew that the King's last words, upon being told that he would soon be well enough to revisit Bognor Regis, were "bugger Bognor!" [25] [26] George never fully recovered his health. In the evening of 15 January 1936, the King took to his bedroom at Sandringham House complaining of a cold, he would never leave the room alive. [27] The King became gradually weaker, drifting in and out of consciousness. The diary of his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn , reveals that the King’s last words, a mumbled "God damn you!", were addressed to his nurse when she gave him a sedative on the night of the 20 January. When the King was already comatose and close to death, Dawson hastened the King’s end by giving him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine, both to prevent further strain on the family and so that the news of his death could be announced in the morning edition of The Times newspaper.

[28] [29] He died between 11.45 p.m. and 12.10 a.m., and is buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. At the King's lying in state in Westminster Hall, his four surviving sons, King Edward VIII , the Duke of York , the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent , mounted the guard at the catafalque on the night of 28 January, the day before the funeral as a mark of respect to their father. At the procession to George’s Lying in State, as the cortege turned into New Palace Yard, the Maltese Cross had fallen from the Imperial Crown and landed in the gutter. The new King, Edward VIII , saw it fall and wondered whether this was a bad omen. [30] [31] He would abdicate before the year was out. Titles, styles, honours and arms

Question: Which British monarch put the “Regis” into Bognor?
Answer: George V